1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the production of fabrics, including textiles and tufted structures, from yarn.
The invention is particularly concerned with color and/or color pattern in such fabrics, especially, but not exclusively, fire resistant fabrics.
2. Description of the Relevant Prior Art
Generally, in the manufacture of fabrics from one or more yarns, the choice of color and/or color pattern in any fabric is virtually unlimited because many materials from which yarns are spun are capable of being colored by dyeing at any of the stages or conditions from being a simple fiber to a fully constructed fabric. However, some fire-resistant materials such for example are known by the names NOMEX, TEKLAN, LENSING and PBI (polybenzimidazole) are difficult or impossible to dye at any stage. Pigment pad-dyeing of textile fabrics has been proposed, but of course produces only a single color product.
According to the present invention, there is provided a fabric constructed from yarn and displaying in at least a portion of the fabric color other than the natural color of the yarn, the said displayed color being that of pigment padded onto the yarn, the padding of the yarn having been effected prior to the construction of the said fabric by pigment pad-dyeing a continuously moving individual run of the yarn.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a yarn having a color other than its natural color, the first mentioned color being that of a pigment padded onto the yarn by pigment pad-dyeing a continuously moving individual run of the yarn.
By using a continuous pigment pad-dyeing process to treat yarn prior to weaving or tufting, the possibility is realized of increasing the color/color pattern choice for fire-resistant materials and widening the choice of coloring processes for the more generally used materials with practical and/or economic advantage for specials and/or smaller batches.